Project BLUEprint, 1965 Falcon

[Bryce]

Here are some updates. I made it to fedex today to pick up all my stuff. New wheels!!







centerline wheels. 17 x 8 in the front and 17 x 9.5 in the back. Brushed face and polished hoop. they look awesome!

[Bryce]

So the secret that I have been working on with TCI, I will be using their 4-link cradle as a starting point for my 3-link suspension. It will save me a lot of fabrication time. It will still be heavily modified. Here are some quick mockup pictures. Including some of my other parts for the 3-link.

[srh3trinity]

Those wheels are gonna look awesome. Looking forward to seeing the three link build.

[chunger]

Looking good. How much room is there between the rear horizontal tube and the upper link mount on the rear end? It looks pretty close in the pic - I'd hate to see you do all this work and only end up with 2" of travel!

[Flash68]

Yeah those wheels are gonna be tits on that car!

[Bryce]

Looking good. How much room is there between the rear horizontal tube and the upper link mount on the rear end? It looks pretty close in the pic - I'd hate to see you do all this work and only end up with 2" of travel!

Well, that will be one of the mods. The rear crossmember will be cutout between the two 1" for/aft bars. This area will be strengthened by tying into the watts link and the floor. This will be stronger and stiffer than just the cross tube.

[Bryce]

Yeah those wheels are gonna be tits on that car!

Those wheels are gonna look awesome. Looking forward to seeing the three link build.

Thanks guys, these wheels look awesome! I love the satin finish on the face.

[John Wright]

Wow...good updates...I missed reading the last few...wheels looks great, and all that fab'ing underneath is cool too.

[carnalsupply]

Superb wheel choice, very old-school vibe yet updated.

Who's Watt's-Link setup are you using, and do you have any shots of it? I don't remember seeing any in the blog?

[DynoDon]

I'm really liking those wheels the more I look at them. I think I might go the same way on my 63 Falcon Convert. You mention in one of your posts that you got a really good deal on them. Could you elaborate or PM me details?
I plan on 245 and 275 on my 63 as well. I might need to run a 9" wheel on the rear though

[Bryce]

Wow...good updates...I missed reading the last few...wheels looks great, and all that fab'ing underneath is cool too.

Thanks!

[Bryce]

Superb wheel choice, very old-school vibe yet updated.

Who's Watt's-Link setup are you using, and do you have any shots of it? I don't remember seeing any in the blog?

I am building my own watts link. Propeller and cradle.

I think these wheels really match the theme of my car.

[Bryce]

I'm really liking those wheels the more I look at them. I think I might go the same way on my 63 Falcon Convert. You mention in one of your posts that you got a really good deal on them. Could you elaborate or PM me details?
I plan on 245 and 275 on my 63 as well. I might need to run a 9" wheel on the rear though

I got them cheaper than summit. Call centerline and see if the have the sale prices still.

[carnalsupply]

Hey Bryce,

I'm planning on running a Panhard Bar on my Fury, but only because a Watts Link is kind of a mystery to me in terms of bar length and pickup points. Would you mind giving me an idea of how you formulate/calculate them?

My Fury has a 47" wide 9" and will have about 3" travel in compression, if that's of any help.

[Bryce]

I designed the watts link in a CAD program and constrained the end points and moved it through suspension travel.

Mine has a 14" link from the housing to the propeller and a 3" link to link measurment on the propeller. I have .008" later travel of the center pivot point at full compression of 3" (same for extension). With this set up the bars are horizontal at ride height and perpendicular to the propeller. At max travel the angle is 65 degrees to the propeller.

hope this helps.

[carnalsupply]

Yeah, to a degree it does, but a couple things catch my eye:

• ".008" later travel" Is this a mistype or can you explain what it means to a total layman?
• "3" link to link" on the prop" As an admitted layman that sounds like an extremely short distance, at least compared to the various Watts props I've seen used. Is the short length based on a minimal amount of up/down axle movement?
• I've got auto-cad, would you be willing to share your file?

Thanks,

Bob

[Bryce]

".008" lateral travel" sorry I was typing fast. Since the pivot point is fixed on the chassis and the tires are planted to the ground, a 3" compression would result in a "sideways movement" of the body of .008". SO not very much, compare that to a panhard would be about .200" at 30" long (that was a guess).

Yes short propeller is due to longer arms and limited travel.

I made a sketch using CATIA to visualize the watts link. It took less than 5min. But I dont mind sharing the file. What files can you open? I could save it as a DXF for you.

[LeighP]

Very cool wheels...something different, I've not seen those before!

[carnalsupply]

LOL, "lateral", I should have been able to guess that!

I've just recently installed Auto-Cad but haven't had much of a chance to touch or it play so I couldn't actually say what format would be best; I was going to have a friend of mine load it up and help me work through it so whatever you think is best.

Sorry but a couple more questions:
What is the width of your rear housing?
What type of vertical travel are you building into it?
Are you going to incorporate your prop mount into your existing 3rd arm mounts or do you have something else in mind?

[Bryce]

LOL, "lateral", I should have been able to guess that!

I've just recently installed Auto-Cad but haven't had much of a chance to touch or it play so I couldn't actually say what format would be best; I was going to have a friend of mine load it up and help me work through it so whatever you think is best.

Sorry but a couple more questions:
What is the width of your rear housing?
What type of vertical travel are you building into it?
Are you going to incorporate your prop mount into your existing 3rd arm mounts or do you have something else in mind?

Good luck with Auto-CAD. It should be a lot of fun. Shoot me a PM with your email and I can send you a DXF file that you should be able to open.

Housing width is 52.5" plus 5" for axle flange width. I will have 4" of travel 2" up and 2" down. I am mounting the cradle and prop to the chassis, so I wont tie into the UCA housing mount. But I am tying into the rear coilover crossmember.